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Air India flight 171 crash simulation suggests dual engine failure
Separate from India’s official investigation, the flight simulator reenactment and turbine deployment indicate a potential technical malfunction in the Boeing 787 crash
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More than two weeks after the deadly crash of an Air India plane that killed all but one of the 242 people on board, investigators and the airline are studying possible dual engine failure as a scenario that prevented the Boeing 787 jet from staying airborne.
Pilots from the airline reenacted the doomed aircraft’s parameters in a flight simulator, including with the landing gear deployed, and the wing flaps retracted, and found those settings alone didn’t cause a crash, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The result, alongside the previous discovery that an emergency-power turbine deployed seconds before impact, has reinforced the focus on a technical failure as one possible cause, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing non-public deliberations.
The simulated flight was conducted separately from the official probe being led by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, (AAIB), and was done to explore possible scenarios, one of the people said.
The Boeing 787 that crashed in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on June 12 was powered by two engines made by General Electric (GE). Video footage of the aircraft showed the plane struggling to gain altitude after taking off, and then sinking back to the ground, where it exploded.
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